The Haystack documentary is a real life investigation into 21st century surveillance in the UK and the Investigatory Powers (IP) Bill that went before Parliament.

Interview with Writer/Director Olivia Cappuccini

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

The Haystack was made as a response to the lack of media coverage and awareness regarding the passing of The Investigatory Powers Bill. Rarely does a passing of a Bill engage mass audiences, they’re densely political and 300+ page documents, but there was something about this Bill… it struck a chord with several civil liberties groups and that captured my attention. The IP Bill affects all of us, including those who are young and digitally active (Scenes of Reason target audience); it legalizes the expansion and use of mass surveillance that is apparently ‘necessary’ to stop pedophilia, terrorism and cyber crime. However in an age where the US are rolling back their mass surveillance programmes, why was it that the UK are pushing forward. That’s how the investigation started…

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

We spent a lot of time breaking down complex technological arguments into a format that allows understanding for those who are completely new to surveillance – and in the same vein, we were the first to uncover some very interesting truths about this topic for those who are heavily invested in the issue. It’s fast paced, energetic, music led and shocking. You can’t not learn something from The Haystack, it will open your eyes a bit more.

The Haystack

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

There are quite a lot of layers to the film as surveillance is both a domestic and international issue – there isn’t just one type of surveillance, which is the point that The Haystack makes. Mass surveillance affects us all personally; it can be seen to violate our privacy rights as the data comes from services we use on a daily basis. Targeted surveillance is the more intrusive life altering surveillance method that is set out to protect us. Supposedly you can’t have one without the other, and this is where the lines get blurred, because with that amount of power and data, comes a guarantee of misuse. The Haystack proves this analogy and questions the necessity of all these powers.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?

The film was actually meant to be a 5-8minute short video set out to help the mass general public understand the pros and cons of the IP Bill. However, the deeper we went, the more people we found who had something interesting to say. We never thought we’d be able to sit down with Sir David Omand, Ex Director of GCHQ and William Binney, an Ex NSA Analyst/whistleblower, and for them to contradict one another – it was fascinating.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

Very positive feedback, we were blown away actually. It was such a low budget production we had no money to spend on any PR and marketing and hoped the film would just circulate around privacy and civil liberty groups and that a few schools would use it as a tool – but a few days after the release we saw that Edward Snowden had endorsed it on Twitter and so the numbers just kept rolling in.

It was then picked up at The London Film Festival, The Human Rights Film Festival, it was screened in every city in the UK via Open Rights Groups through no organisation of our own, it’s also been used in schools within the UK and internationally as well as via The Economist’s Education Foundation, it’s being shown at a Tech Film Festival in Seattle in January 2017 and we’re delighted that it has been included in SIMA 2017. The Haystack’s purpose was to educate younger audiences and create social impact, it’s been online for almost a year and still as relevant now as it was upon its release.

The Haystack

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

Big happy surprise – we made The Haystack because there was a lack of awareness about the issue and the results have shown that it was the right thing to do. There were so many people in the UK and worldwide who wanted to discuss what was going to happen but couldn’t find enough information about it or enough content to share and spark debate. For Scenes of Reason’s first film, I’m overjoyed and can’t wait to make another at some stage.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com

We’re looking for more exposure of The Haystack and of Scenes of Reason as a company – we’re an independent production house specializing in stories of a social and political nature in order to create impact. We’re really keen to use the medium of art and film to create positive change, and have faith that if we empower our generation/younger generations then that can be possible! Scenes of Reason loves a collaboration and are always looking to get involved in new projects, so hopefully we can use this platform to connect with more like minded people!

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

We’d love to get a slot on TV to show The Haystack, but for now any kind of coverage helps – journalists are seen to be at risk when it comes to this issue given the nature of their job, however it’s very risky for them to have an opinion because of media ownership. We’re happy to let The Haystack speak for itself and are still waiting on final sign off to show it in The House of Lords in London.

The Haystack - Behind the Scenes with the filmmaking team.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

We hope The Haystack will win an award as that seems to validate the efforts of the film and the nature of Scenes of Reason, we hope it will continue to be shown in schools and inspire every single person to look into their privacy rights, make sure they understand how their data is being used.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Who is capturing my data? I think a lot of people would be shocked by the types of companies that are retaining and selling data for governmental and commercial use, this needs to be made more public and at some point I hope that there will be enough consumers to challenge corporate interests so that we can protect our privacy rights better.

What are the key creatives developing or working on now?

Some of us have gone off to do a variety of things, one of our producers is now working in politics and another for the council, as a company we are just about to start working on a government backed campaign to engage youth with the topics of Maths and Physics – it’s another social impact project that we hope will have great results.

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